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Dan DeCarlo
Playing Career It Begins…. '' Dan’s love of hockey began at an early age. He watched his first NHL game at his best friend, Jeremy Hershey’s house. It was the Detroit Red Wings vs the St Louis Blues in the late 80’s. He was hooked from that moment on. Dan picked up the rules and tradition of the game from broadcasting legends Mickey Redmond and Dave Strater. He also gained an understanding of the “unwritten code of hockey” from Hockey Night in Canada’s Don Cherry. ''The Minors.... Like many future Greats, Dan’s hockey career had humble beginnings. It started with garage hockey, usually just 3 or 4 players in the Dormanen’s garage. Dan and his friends would play until the last ball would be lost in the pile of boxes and lawn equipment in the garage. Occasionally, searching for the ball in the garage would uncover an unsettling stockpile of bird skulls, left there by Chris’ serial killer cat, Kitty. One fateful summer afternoon, Dan and a group of his friends went up to Hockey Outlet in Redford, MI and purchaced rollerblades. From that afternoon on, this gang would never go back to the slower game played on foot. It was this very afternoon that Dan met the cocksure Ryan Houle, future Commisioner of the IJWHL. This took place in the street in front of the Dormanen’s house, where small street hockey games were often played. They became instant friends. This group began playing in the church parking lot next door to Dan’s parents house in Garden City, his residence at that time. One day, Dan and Hersh chased a ball to the church garage door, resulting in a crushing hit. This left a Jeremy-shaped dent in the door, which Dan and Hersh has to later repair. Soon after, a larger group of up-and-coming-players began an organizied roller hockey league that played in the tennis courts at Moeller field in Garden City, MI. An alternate location, the tennis courts of Garden City High School, was also used. These games are really where Dan developed his basic hockey skills. Games were played every Monday, Wednsday and Friday, and sometimes on weekends. This schedule continued 52 weeks a year, even in the subzero weather. Only rain would interupt this regimen that continued for about 4 years, from roughly 1990 to 1994. These games would sometimes run up to 4 hours. A rivalry soon developed with some JW hockey players from a nearly neighborhood. This lead to a heated game between the two groups played at the John Glenn parking lot. Disaster was narrowly avoided with the groups equipment. They had held a practice session the evening before the big game, which ended early due to a rainstorm. Several players rollerblade skates had gotten wet. The next morning, these skates had rusted bearings that were completely locked up. Luckily and totally by chance, Dan had set his rollerblades on a running clothes dryer that night. The heat had dried his skates and saved the bearings. The rest of the players were forced to replace their bearings at the 11th hour but the game was played on schedule with a full roster ending in an exciting overtime victory. Several rival players of this opposing group eventually became longtime members of the IJWHL, such as Eric Noffsinger. One other noteable rivalry came from rollerblade hockey. Our group of heroes was challanged by yet another group of JW hockey players who played at Thurston High School tennis courts known by the super gay name, the “Penny-Boys”. These It was during one of these games that Ryan Houle was severely hooked. In anger, he grabbed the stick of the offending player and threw it behind him. In a stroke of terrible luck, fellow team member Jay Winters was at the wrong place at the wrong time. The stick struck him right in the mouth, knocking out his front teeth. Dan’s group of friends dominated a series of games with these chumps. This “Penny-Boys” group eventually fizzled out, with none of their players amounting to anything. The Inskter Era.... TBC... Fun Facts.... - Smaller players have, at times, taken exception to Dan’s hard-hitting style, feeling that he should “take it easy” on them. His response has always been, “I am only 5’7”. If they don’t like getting hit, no one is stopping these guys from eating more!” This refers to the high meat diet that gifted Dan with his solid physical form. The only player he is still feeling the effects of hitting to this day is Big Ben Rickel who many times put Dan in his place. " He was the hardest hitter in the game, I wish I was more like him", Dan has been heard to have said a few times. This was, of course, before Big Ben was tea-bagged by Dan, forever proving that Dan was the superior force... - Dan learned his gritty defensive style from the VHS video "Hockey-Here's Howe!" starring Mark, Marty and Gordie Howe. This taught Dan the proper defensive technique that he used throughout his illustrious carreer. By chance, Dan ran into Mark Howe at a local A&W. - Dan once fought a fierce political battle to keep the Inkster Hockey League operating. An "opposer" was on a personal crusade against the IJWHL and hockey in general. Dan, backed by several of the other players fathers, were able to get hockey deemed as a fine form of recreation. In the end, true justice was served with not only the IJWHL continuing, but the "opposer" having all authority taken away from him.